The Tabernacle, Temple, and Sanctuary: Revelation

Summary

We're supposed to be looking for visions of Heaven to understand what Heaven is, what it looks like, where God lives, and what we hope see to one day. The most important characteristic of Heaven the Book of Revelation gives us is an understanding of Heaven's point of view we miss when attention is focused on this world. That leads us to the mistake a lot of philosophers make. They take a book like Revelation, then mold it into a view the world understands, and the majority of people agree with. They can't grasp onto the fact, this book and message is from Heaven, thereby giving us a view from Heaven's perspective.

This simple book takes the view of Heaven recorded by John and explains one vital detail no one should have ever missed. John was the only eyewitnesses to see the entire book of Revelation revealed in visions shown in Heaven. Whenever John saw one of those visions, he was confused. Each time an angel or other being came to John to explain what he just saw.

Introduction

We're supposed to be looking for visions of Heaven to understand what Heaven is, what it looks like, where God lives, and what we hope see to one day. The most important characteristic of Heaven the Book of Revelation gives us is an understanding of Heaven's point of view we miss when attention is focused on this world. That leads us to the mistake a lot of philosophers make. They take a book like Revelation, then mold it into a view the world understands, and the majority of people agree with. They can't grasp onto the fact, this book and message is from Heaven, thereby giving us a view from Heaven's perspective.

This simple book takes the view of Heaven recorded by John and explains one vital detail no one should have ever missed. John was the only eyewitnesses to see the entire book of Revelation revealed in visions shown in Heaven. Whenever John saw one of those visions, he was confused. Each time an angel or other being came to John to explain what he just saw. In simple terms, those events showed us, every being in Heaven understood each and every one of those symbols. Angels in Heaven watched Satan grow from a serpent in Eden to a dragon in the last days. Where do we go to interpret those symbols? There is no other place other than Heaven. Interpretations based on this world have been wrong for centuries. One interpretation after another has failed. An interpretation from Heaven has never failed.

This book shows how Revelation is arranged to teach every man, woman, and child how to study this book and every book in scripture. The first few chapters are laid out to show a simple Bible Study rule. To understand any subject, symbol, person, place, or thing, collect all the information recorded on the subject at hand. In other words, God recorded the Bible to explain itself. God didn’t leave out any of the information. Every detail we need to understand the subject at hand was recorded by John, or one of the earlier prophets. There are only two sources of information in this Universe, Heaven, and this world. Where do the popular philosophers gather their information from? News media. Is the news person the new prophet the world is waiting for? Where is the concrete proof new interpretations are based on the Bible and only God’s Word? This book shows how simple it is and always has been to stay within the Bible to find answers. John, the real prophet from God was taken to Heaven, shown visions, had those visions explained in Heaven, then recorded exactly what he was told to record. John explained every detail of where he was, who and what he saw, and who explained each detail. John told us the only reliable source to find the truth we have been searching for. The world takes that information, and like the first sin committed by Eve, tries to rely on a greater degree of understanding the devil promised to Eve. Not information or facts from Heaven, but ideas and concepts hatched by a snake in a tree. We face that same decision every time we open the Bible. Do we rely on the visions John witnessed in Heaven, or do we rely on this world to fill in supposedly missing pieces?

Let’s compare the Book of Revelation to a pumpkin for a moment. Not Heaven, not Jesus’ ministry, not God, just the Book of Revelation as a whole. Imagine a pumpkin all alone in a field. What do you see? An orange globe shaped thing. Is that all you’re going to describe? That is about as descriptive as some people get with the Book of Revelation. Just look at the outside, explain it to people, and their job is complete.

What about that field? What about it? After giving a brief description of the pumpkin, wouldn't some people describe the field, in the same loose, simple terms they used to describe that pumpkin? Wouldn't both descriptions go hand in hand? Wouldn't the details used to describe the pumpkin and that field tell us more about the personality of the story teller than the objects at hand? Think about that. When people try to describe Revelation, are they telling us more about their personalities and how they view the world, than about the actual subjects at hand. Sure they are. People reveal more about where their interests lie than the actual Book of Revelation, and the Author who inspired the book.

Let’s focus on that pumpkin and examine other aspects of that orange globe. The color attracts attention. It is quite a contrast to the brown or black soil around it. What can you use a pumpkin for? Pumpkins have a lot of different uses. You can make pumpkin pie, pumpkin stew, pumpkin cookies, you can smash pumpkins in the street, make a jack-o-lantern, carve a face in the pumpkin, you can launch a pumpkin from a machine and see how far it sails. Pumpkins interest people in different ways. So does the Book of Revelation. Some people look at the promises in Revelation. Some people look at how Revelation is related to other books in the Bible. Some people look at Jesus’ story in Revelation. And some people focus on the doom and gloom in Revelation. A pumpkin and the Book of Revelation have a lot in common.

You can also get pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin. Let’s look at those seeds. Can the soil around a pumpkin make another pumpkin? Not at all. There is no power in the soil and no way that soil can make another pumpkin. It takes a seed from a pumpkin to make another pumpkin. Of course the seed needs the soil. They have to work together. See the relationship?

Look at that pumpkin seeds. It is sort of flat, ob-longed, and rather unassuming. One wouldn't think such a simple thing has the ability to produce more pumpkins. Cut open the seed. Inside is just as simple and unassuming. A little bit of fiber and nothing tells you about the power inside that seed. It has to be buried in the soil before it reveals its wonders. When it does, the sprout and plant have no resemblance to the seed where it all began. The Book of Revelation is a lot like that. Jesus used symbols to show John what was going to happen. How often do the actual events and people resemble the symbols? We have to keep in mind, those visions began in Heaven where insights and knowledge are much different than here in earth.

Now it is time to first of all, see what the Book of Revelation teaches us about Bible Study. After learning a few lessons about Bible Study that were recorded at the beginning of Revelation, we will see how those rules are applied to the rest of Revelation. You will be amazed to see how the book John recorded actually explains itself, and how God provided all the answers. God didn’t miss any details. The angels in Heaven understood each symbol, the timing of each vision, and how this world was going to view John’s book. All of that and more was recorded by John. All we need to do is read it the way it was recorded, and follow through to the explanations John was told to include. Simple.

Chapter 1 Revelation of Jesus Revelation 1

Revelation 1:1-9 NLTse This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, (2) who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. (3) God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near. (4) This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; (5) and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. (6) He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. (7) Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him-- even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen! (8) I am the Alpha and the Omega--the beginning and the end, says the Lord God. I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come--the Almighty One. (9) I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God's Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus.

Well here we are, 224 chapters into this series of books, and I haven't covered one third of what was written about the temple. I thought it was a good idea to skip over other portions of the temple to jump into the Heavenly Sanctuary. I was surprised to find so little written about the Heavenly Sanctuary. Most of the Old Testament looked at the Sanctuary as a place of safety, a place to meet God, a place they were able to enter in their time, and a place we should be able to gather for true worship. The Sanctuary is a place we need to go to get information, the next message, warnings about false messages, false Christs, and what this world is doing to drive a wedge between us and God's throne.

The book of Hebrews tells us how Jesus already fought and won the battle. Now its just a matter of clinging onto the new promises, and walking through that vail that used to separate symbols from reality. The disciples didn't understand prophecy as it was unfolding in front of their eyes. They had to wait until a good portion of it was fulfilled before Jesus could sit them down and explain exactly what happened. What are we supposed to learn from that experience?

Today we live in what is referred to as an advanced society. We have larger, fancier homes with electricity, lights, computers, we drive faster cars, we can fly around the world, we have computers, smart phones, all sorts of ways to communicate, find, copy and paste information, make videos, and all kinds of other stuff to make us smarter then those disciples who relied on fish and sheep to eat, make a living, and had to walk from one place to another to get anything done. The question I have, what does all the garbage today have to do with understanding prophecy? To some people, technology is the key to understanding prophecy, like God gave us the news media to replace the Holy Spirit, and a vague understanding of a few choice bits of scripture to replace long hours reviewing what has been recorded over generations.

For some reason Jesus quoted scripture. Some times He quoted scripture a lot. At times, Jesus sent priests, Pharisees, and others back to the prophecy He was fulfilling in front of their eyes. Did they look at those prophecies? Some of them did. Not relying on your memory was such a strange thing back in those days, it made people look like idiots, as if they didn't put in enough time to memorize the important points, or didn't understand every detail when they read it the first six times. Going back to scripture and reading it in the light Jesus provided that day was looked upon as a sign of weakness. Reviewing scripture was looked at as such a curse. Those who did review it were afraid to discuss what they learned with the other priests and Pharisees. They stood silent as more prophecies were fulfilled, not knowing what to do, or how to react.

The world today is not much different. People claim to posses some superior knowledge of scripture. A whole bunch of people want to be just like the Pharisees. They want to be rock stars of prophecy. They want to come up with quick one line answers, standing above the wisdom of the world like a shining star leading the way. The way to what? The biggest house, fanciest car, a larger screen to project some Power Point project used as a teaching tool. What has the world ever gained from quick, one line prophetic guesses? It should have gained the knowledge, people using that formless method of study have all been wrong. They've been wrong thousands of times, and if they continue on their chosen course, are going to make thousands of more mistakes. Why does the world still follow them?

It will take about a minute to look at the Internet and find dozens of people claiming this prophecy, or that prophecy is being fulfilled today. Most cannot point to a specific prophecy, its just that the news has something about a war some place in this world, and people know there is a prophecy about wars somewhere in the Bible, so the world must be reaching an end. Using the same study methods the priests and Pharisees used to kill Jesus, people think the technology they have at their fingertips is somehow going to make their guesses come true. In all that mayhem, where is God's Spirit? No one knows. No one cares. Our technology will provide answers we need, when we need them. Somehow the tax dollars we pay and wisdom of our elected officials will save the day.

That's another one of those prophecies floating around the Internet today. People claim leaders of all kinds of different levels are in the Bible in some symbolic form, and this leader, or that leader has a master plan to take over the world. Their plans are so secret, but somehow, mister average Joe working in his underwear on his laptop was shown details of those top secret plans. He can't explain any details from those plans, how he obtained the information, but part of the world believes him. He posts something on an Internet site, works with a broker to place ads on the side, and somehow makes $10,000 a week from Internet advertising. That is what prophecy has turned into today, a money making machine. Think about is, sheep used to be dollars on the hoof. Today sheep are behind laptops and smart phones looking for easier ways to understand prophecy, and the wolves are waiting for the sheep to come to them.

Ask those people what study method they used to put their study together. You won't get an answer. They look at a symbol in scripture, then just know that symbol points to this person, or that person. They got those symbols wrong a hundred times in the past, but that doesn't slow down the next guess, nor the income their next guess will produce. If you can't see the parallel between those Internet vultures and the priests who killed Jesus, allow me to spell it out for you. MONEY.

I've been lucky enough to meet a guy with a few PhD's in Bible Study. He was smart enough to show me a few ways to study scripture. Only a few. He was smart enough to know, if I studied with the Spirit, the Spirit would show me other ways to study scripture, other methods, other patterns used in the Bible from the front cover to the back cover. And that's exactly what happened. Spend some time in the Bible with the Spirit, and He will show you details no one can argue with. The Spirit will show you how the Bible is designed to protect you from all those false teachers. The Bible is designed to show you how to tell false prophets from real prophets.

There is one thing about the Bible that makes it the Bible. When God has a prophecy recorded, He also has the fulfillment recorded. When I ran across that study method, I found out what parallel chapters are. It was all so simple, I wondered why no one ever showed it to me before. Parallel chapters are rather easy to figure out when you know a few basic rules of context. The rule of repetition tells us to pay attention to words the author repeated. We call them key words, that can be the same, similar, and related. Contrasting words can also be related. The other important rule to know is the rule of introductions and summations. The first few verses of every chapter in the Bible tell us the main theme in that chapter. The last few verse summarize the main theme.

Common sense tells us, the prophecy and its recorded fulfillment have to cover the same subject, therefore, they must contain the same key words, which can be the same, similar, or related. In some instances, but not many, they can be contrasts. Key words help us search for the prophecy and its recorded fulfillment. We may come up with a variety of choices. How do you find the right one? That's where introductions and summations come in. When the prophecy and its fulfillment cover the same subject, the introductions and summations in the two chapters will agree, making them parallel chapters. It is that simple.

When people interpret prophecies using news media, their own knowledge, something they heard or read on the Internet, in a seminar, or using history books, anything outside of the Bible, it is impossible for them to establish the link between the prophecy and the fulfillment God recorded. They can guess a thousand times and never come up with the right answer because they are not studying with the Spirit. They cannot, or do not want to explain the process they used to formulate their opinion, and know, few people will ask them to explain the methods they used.

When we look at the introduction to the Book of Revelation, we see how John immediately identified the source of his information. John received his information directly from Jesus Christ. John eliminated all doubt by following the laws of the prophets, which is, explain how you received the message.

John also followed another law of the prophets by explaining why the message was given, to show his servants the events that must soon take place. John then identified an angel as the form of communication God chose to use to deliver this message. Daniel's book is a guide telling us the major forms of communication God uses. Among them are, dreams, visions, angels, prayer, daily events, and of course, scripture.

John also identified who the message is for, and important detail when we begin a study. When we study the physical aspects, we are better able to see the spiritual implications, then understand how they apply to us, which is another study process we can follow.

John tells us, we're supposed to be a kingdom of priests, a reminder the Levitical priesthood is dead, and Jesus is now the head of a new priesthood. We can't go mixing old ways with new ways. We can't take the old Levitical priesthood, take out a few interesting points, and fabricate a new religion out of it. Our instructions, orders, messages, and training all come from Christ. If John knew of another plan, he would have recorded it in Revelation, or in another one of his books.

John also did something unusual, John gave us a description of Jesus, then later broke it down into sections, adding one part of that description to letters written to the seven churches. In essence, John was told to record one Bible Study method. Take all the information on a subject, put it all together, and study it as a whole. When one piece is missing, you'll find it difficult to understand. When it all comes together, the understanding will flow.

We can take the descriptions of Jesus placed in the seven messages to the churches, put them together and see a much better view of Jesus than any single one can provide. A casual reading of Revelation may miss many details like that. If people know a few basic study techniques, those details should stand out, or at least ring a bell. We should ask why God used a writing style like that. The obvious answer is, so we can show people, basic study techniques are actually in scripture, and we don't need other sources to teach. God included everything we need in the Bible.

God must have seen the study techniques people made up and like to use. Take out one line, and make up a story about it. Isn't that what most of the world does? So Jesus had John record a number of details about Himself in one place, then broke them up into sections at the beginning of the book so we knew how the rest of the book was written, and how to understand it.

None of the prophecies in Revelation contain a complete description of what is going to happen. Some details for an event are scattered here and there. The more details we gather, the better picture we get. The more we are able to explain to people. Some people follow that general rule of Bible Study, but way too many people want to show off like those priests and Pharisees. Show them one piece of a puzzle, and they want to show off by explaining every detail. Challenge their wisdom and watch out. The only other parts of the Bible they have memorized is a few choice lines about false prophets they shoot out at anyone who doesn't agree with them.

I for one feel much more secure when someone can show me a study method used in the Bible. There are dozens of them found in the Bible. Jesus taught using a series of parables. The parables He used in one day were all related. Some times Jesus used simple symbols like grass, seeds, or crops to show all those parables were linked together. Each parable had a few pieces of information. When we put them all together, we get a much better understanding of the lesson Jesus taught that day. Separate them, and we are generally left with the impression one person received from one parable. It may sound good. It may make sense, and have something to do with the other stories a teacher decided to mix in, but more often than not, teach a lesson about this world when Jesus was teaching a spiritual lesson about Heaven, life in Heaven, His ministry, or another subject not really related to what a modern day teacher wants to imply.

Jesus used that method of teaching, using parables with related symbols to teach another lesson about Bible Study. Stories in the Bible are related to one another. You cannot understand the physical aspects of one story without reviewing the previous story, which lead into whatever story you are studying. Back ground is very important. It is also important to know what actions and decisions led to the situation at hand. That may sound like common sense, but how many people follow that general rule of Bible Study?

In the Bible, that general rule of looking back also applies to all the books in the Bible. Look at Revelation chapter 1 for example. See how the end of the previous book sets your mind in order to begin a proper study on Revelation.

But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God's love. And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen. (Jude 1:20-25 NLTse).

Jude is like a brief description of Revelation. The end of Jude tells us, this is about more than ourselves. This is a matter of life and death. Jude also reminds us of the Holy Spirit's part in this warfare here on earth. Jude also sets our mind on the concern Jesus has for this planet, thereby explaining why Jesus sent an angel to John with enough information to fill a book.

The first chapter of Revelation also introduced the concept of prophetic timing, a subject few people want to try to explain. Not because they don't understand it, but because proper prophetic timing will not allow people to do what they do best, take prophecies out of sequence. Whenever people are allowed to take prophecies out of sequence, they can apply a line here, and another line there, whenever the need arises. Let's get serious. There are a handful of people making a very good living out of taking one or two lines out of scripture, playing a few seconds of a news event, and telling people it is prophecy being fulfilled. We want to learn to avoid people like that and not get caught up in the confusion they create. That is the main reason God decided to include solid Bible Study methods in books like Revelation. Timing is another one of those rules.

Lord's Day

Revelation 1:10-20 NLTse (10) It was the Lord's Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. (11) It said, Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. (12) When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. (13) And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest. (14) His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like flames of fire. (15) His feet were like polished